I'm improving the world one child at a time. I TEACH!

Beginning my Global Perspectives on Development and Learning course, I was thinking about the ideas of other countries on early childhood and not thinking about the idea of social change. Thinking out of the box with other countries research is very difficult for me since I have not broadened my horizons to reflect my teaching philosophy.  The idea of social change was also challenging due to being a preschool teacher with little influence on management and program functionality in my current position.  It is now my goal to make changes that improve early childhood for children birth to eight years old and hopefully get a career that will hear my voice, let my hands work towards greatness and be a part of social change for everyone involved.

My ultimate goal is to teach at the collegiate level and be an inspiration for future teachers.  One quote that I love is by Conrad Hall.  He states “You are always a student, never a master.  You have to keep moving forward.”  This rings true for my students and me as a lifelong learner.

Lastly, I sometimes get frustrated with management not listening to my ideas or asking teachers their input on situations that teachers deal with every day.  For example, I work for Head Start and Monday through Friday full day classrooms have children all day.  The time to get paperwork done or to discuss student progress does not exist even at nap time.  I would like management two days a month to build in a half day schedule where the teachers can step out of the classroom at nap, once the kids are sleeping, to allow for a 2 hour meeting to occur.

I would like open minded early childhood educators to really think about the needs of teachers to teach the children.  With that being said, there are two quotes that I live by in regards to open minded thinking.  One is by Malcolm S. Forbes: Education's purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one.  The other is “the aim of education should be to teach us rather how to think, than what to think – rather to improve our minds, so as to enable us to think for ourselves, than to load the memory with thoughts of other men” by Bill Beattie.

 

These quotes are sharable on Facebook at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/topics/topic_education2.html#BJq2pJ7XkOWziMTb.99

A few blogs that I live by when planning or getting through a school year are:

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/promoting-a-culture-of-learning-terry-heick

http://www.teachpreschool.org/

http://www.lookatmyhappyrainbow.com/

Emergent Curriculum

Emergent Curriculum is a new concept for me in my preschool teaching experiences.  I had heard about it being used in place of a theme based curriculum and planning.  One mantra that I live by as a preschool teacher is “I know this stuff but the kids are here to learn it.”  This helps me remember that my planning, if it is my opinion, does not benefit the kids. 

I like the circular way of using an emergent curriculum that always flows through a circular, never-ending model.  A good starting point is where teachers observe the children through play: what they are saying and doing.  This informs the teachers what the students are interested in and how to plan activities, materials and lesson plans.  The activities during the lessons can go on for months (gardening) or a couple of days (cooking) as two examples.  

I am in the beginning stages of implementing an emergent curriculum in my classroom and the first thing I did the first week of school was ask the kids what they are interested in playing with, learning, and studying.  My anecdotal notes will inform my planning through the students’ interests in the upcoming weeks.  Have you ever implemented the emergent curriculum?  What fears do you have moving away from theme based?  How do you feel this could benefit students of all grades?  (I wish I could have done this when I taught 2^nd grade.)

I have attached some great resources about emergent curriculum.  The author of “Theme to Emergent”, Diane Kashin, has a Pinterest board that I started following all on emergent curriculum.  The abandoning themes section in the article is a great resource to read over about changing opinions from themes to more of an emergent curriculum.

https://www.naeyc.org/files/tyc/file/YCBuell.pdf

https://www.qcaa.qld.edu.au/downloads/p_10/qklg_pd_mod3_exa1_emerg_curric.pdf

http://kidslinkcares.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Theme_to_Emergent.pdf

http://www.nurturingknowledge.com/curriculum-project.htm

http://childhood101.com/2013/07/more-than-pretty-creative-arts-as-a-language-of-learning/

Parental Involvement: Needed or not?

Parental Involvement: Needed or not?

Two assistant professors wrote about parental involvement not being affective in a child’s education.  They stated in a blog after writing their book The Broken Compass: Parental Involvement with Children’s Education, that student achievement is not improved by parents being involved by “observing a child’s class, contacting a school about a child’s behavior, helping to decide a child’s high school courses, or helping a child with homework, do not improve student achievement”.

I focus on quoting these types of engagement by Professor Harris and Professor Robinson because I do not constitute those as parent involvement but more as a priority of a parent.  This blog post really upset me with its focus topic because I know that part of the Head Start grant is funded by parent engagement; thus, a parent being involved is really important to me and my current job.  It is really important to find out what works and what hinders child development in their education.

My Spanish speaking families at Head Start did not have transportation and the translator was not always available but I made sure the conversations and homework were beneficial, in Spanish, and their children were highly motivated in the class.  Lastly, I do agree that “policy makers should not advocate a one-size-fits-all model of parental involvement” so what are some specific ways you utilize parents in your classroom?  How do they stretch the classroom expectations in to the home? At the beginning of the year, how do parents feel about being involved? Teachers feel?

Robinson, K. & Harris, A. (2014) Parental Involvement Is Overrated. http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/04/12/parental-involvement-is-overrated/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0

My history

The first post I did a little bit about me and my teaching experience but this I wanted to go back as far as I could remember.  This week in my Doctorate class we are discussing play and attachment pertaining to child development.  I believe that without attachment to caregivers, parents, and other children; play is pointless unless those basic needs are met (Maslow's hierarchy)

My parents sent me to preschool while they both were working and my sister and brother were in elementary school.  I only remember one thing from preschool and it was at snack time we were given nutter butters and I didn't want one so I had to go sit in the corner. (I hate peanut butter to this day!)

My grandparents (my dads parents and my moms father) were a big part of my development as well.  My grandma did a lot of sewing and they had really old toys to play with at their house.  My maternal grandpa had his dog and donuts on Sundays.

My best friend since 5 years old her family were also a big part of my childhood and their Polish culture was meshed into my everyday occurrences.  New Years Eve they throw peas to catch for good luck (I usually ended up stepping on them).

Here are some pictures:

Conscious Discipline

I was observing a toddler room this morning for my Walden University course and was lucky enough to stop in my room to grab my aprons.  I will be turning these aprons into welcome/ greeting aprons.  Here is a great post from Conscious Discipline that talks about making the children feel welcomed and ways to do it.

Conscious Discipline Greeting Apron


Picture from The Teaching Bug blog

For those of you who love Dr. Jean, you may want to join her free webinar.

Pre-K Pages

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http://www.edweb.net/earlychildhood

Summer is time for outdoor play and learning through play is always important.  One goal I have for the beginning of the school year with my 3-5 year old preschoolers is to create a child friendly and high interactive outdoors play space.  We have a ton of space and only Little Tykes climbers/ slides.

 Here is a great link from Teach Preschool that helps give ideas for the playground.

http://www.teachpreschool.org/2014/05/inspiring-outdoor-playscapes/#comment-192276

This is so important for every parent, teacher, ECE advocate to remember on a daily basis. 

About me

My name is Ms. Crystal and this will be my 2^nd year with HeadStart.  I have been working in the child care field for over 13 years as a 2nd grade teacher, preschool teacher, administrator and community trainer.  My favorite activities are outside river building, journaling and math matching.  I have a Bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood and my Master’s in Early Literacy.  I have two dogs, Gus and Marley and we live in East Sparta, Ohio

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